


An Unconscious Interaction

by Otava



Series: Metamorphosis of a Friendship [1]
Category: Ripper Street
Genre: Angst, Emotions, Feelings, Introspection, M/M, Missing Scene, Poor everyone in the Ripper Street universe, Reid is unconscious the whole time, poor babies, sad men, tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-06
Updated: 2016-07-06
Packaged: 2018-07-21 18:38:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7398973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Otava/pseuds/Otava
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>*Spoilers* This is a "missing scene" that takes place between S3E4 and S3E5.</p><p>Jackson and Drake discover that Reid has been shot and decide to go visit him a couple of hours after the incident occurs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Unconscious Interaction

Jackson sat comfortably at his desk, reading a medical journal that he’d been meaning to get to for weeks. Not yet a half-hour into his reading, a barrage of violent knocking came from Jackson’s door causing him to become roused from his deep state of concentration. Not in the mood to deal with anyone, Jackson attempted to mentally block-out the sound and went back to his work, focusing on his reading and wishing for whoever was at his door to soon leave. 

The knocking continued for a few more beats and Jackson continued to ignore it. Then, a loud and familiar booming voice accompanied the knocking with very loud shouts. “Jackson! I know you’re in there!” Jackson immediately recognized the voice to belong to none other than his long-time colleague, Bennet Drake. Begrudgingly, Jackson got up from his chair, still slightly irritated as he opened up his door to see what Drake wanted from him this time.

“What.” Jackson punctuated his short sentence curtly, not in the mood to abandon some overdue informational reading to do some agonizing work for H division.

“Reid’s been shot.”

As soon as Jackson heard the words leave Drake’s lips, he immediately felt guilty for not answering his door sooner. His blood immediately ran cold, his heart sped up erratically, and then he felt himself start to go into a state of shock and panic.

“What happened?” Jackson heard himself ask Drake immediately, despite his shock.

“Ms. Susan found him bleeding out on her floor after she was alerted by sound of gunshots. It seems that Reid and Mr. Capshaw shot each other. She found Mr. Capshaw dead a few feet away-”

“And what of Reid?” Jackson asked his question desperately, not caring about any of the other details of the encounter.

“Alive, still, but he was shot twice. One of those shots hit his skull, Jackson. He’s currently unconscious and they say it doesn't look too good for him and that he may not, you know, may not…” Drake let his words trail off as he too was still quite affected by what had unfolded merely a hour ago.

“Is there any chance, at all, that they say he might make even a partial recovery?” Jackson asked. He knew that 2 gunshot wounds were indeed serious. Reid’s survival depended on where exactly he was shot, what kind of gun and bullets were used, as well as how bad the swelling of his brain was.

“Nobody knows for sure, at this time,” Drake admitted. “He’s currently under the care of your wife and her staff. They say it is too early to know anything and have reported no change in his condition. They said there might even be a chance that he’s perfectly fine and will be up and about in a just a few weeks,” Drake responded with a weak smile.

“Have you seen him yet?” Jackson asked, choking back tears.

“Not yet. I was just told about what had happened, myself. I was about to head over there but I thought I’d let you know what happened before I left. You deserved to know...” Drake's voice betrayed him with a quiver sadness the whole time he spoke.

“I can’t believe that he, that Reid-” Jackson began. Moisture began to build up in his eyes. He had just seen Reid alive and well not a few hours ago. Reid had just gotten his daughter back, they were going to escape Whitechapel for good! Then Jackson had to ruin everything by giving Reid that damned piece of evidence right before they were about to head off. Reid would be on a train with his daughter if it weren't for him, Jackson thought. 

One of Drake’s hands rested on Jackson’s shoulder in a reassuring and friendly manner, drawing him away from his thoughts, “You can come with me to see him with me, if you want.”

“Okay,” Jackson said blinking away tears “Just give me a second.” Jackson closed the door and feverishly ran his fingers through his hair, trying to calm himself and come to terms with what he was about to see. 

Eventually, he collected his thoughts with a few deep breaths and envisioning more positive outcomes for Reid in his mind. Jackson then hurriedly grabbed his jacket, put on his hat, and made his way out of the building to meet up with Drake, who already had a carriage waiting for them. Immediately, Jackson climbed in, not saying a word to Drake. The ride over seemed to take ages, both men were incredibly nervous and on edge the whole time. When they inevitably got to their location, Fred Abberline and a few other policemen were already waiting for them as they entered for building.

“This way,” Abberline indicated, leading the two men up the sets of stairs that lead to the scene of the crime. For once he had no rude comment for the American whom he hated so much. 

“As you can see, this is where the confrontation occurred.”

Jackson and Drake looked around the room, both noticing the large blood stain left behind by Reid on the carpet. They then walked over to Mr. Capshaw’s body, which was still at the exact location where he had died only a few yards away.

Jackson bent down to examine it more closely; a large hole was in his head and there was brain matter in the surrounding areas. Reid had used a shotgun most likely, close range too, as the evidence of damage was spread over the room for about a yard or so. A smile spread across Jackson's face.; if Reid was going to die, at least he got the bastard who killed him, first. Jackson looked around some more and saw that Capshaw had a handgun lying right next him. That must have been the gun that that he used on Reid, he thought. Immediately, a bit of relief washed over Jackson, knowing that Reid had been shot with a handgun and hadn’t been shot with anything nearly as bad as Capshaw. Jackson's hope of Reid living strengthened ever so slightly.

“Do you care to see him?” Jackson heard somebody ask Drake. They were both still getting a look at the crime scene, but Drake nodded and they both got up and made their way to the room where Reid was. 

Jackson's feet unconsciously carried him there, his mind was racing and he was counting down the steps before he would have to witness his friend in such a bad state in person. Three more steps. Two steps. One. Jackson finally reached the threshold; the barrier separating him from harsh reality of Reid’s condition and a numb unknowingness.

The door closed behind them and only Drake, Jackson and Reid were left in the room. A situation that had occurred so many times in so many variations over the years. But time was different; this time, one of them was unable to leave the room when the meeting was adjourned.

Edmund Reid’s unconscious body was neatly placed in the bed, unmoving and devoid of color. Jackson glanced down at his friend and his heart tensed. The Reid he had known was gone from that body. He wasn’t there; his consciousness and essence was somewhere else entirely. Jackson then let his eyes trail down to Reid’s motionless hand. The hand that he had shaken ‘goodbye’ but a few hours ago.  
Jackson really had thought that encounter would be the last time he would ever get to see Reid. The man was already packed and ready to go and live out the rest of his days with his daughter. Jackson had wished that indeed had been the last time; but instead he was here, in a room with Drake standing around Reid's body as if it were already a corpse for him to be dissecting. 

“Inspector, what have you gotten yourself into?” Jackson mumbled under his breath.

The flesh and blood of Edmund Reid did not respond.

“So, what do you think?” Drake asked Jackson, looking in his eyes for his medical expertise.

Jackson walked closer to the unconscious Reid. It had been a long time since he had to examine a personal friend in such a bad state. He had done it so much back in America and never expected to have to do it again. Painful memories slid back into Jackson's mind as he glanced at and fiddled with the dressings on Reid’s body.

“I'm not going to touch the bandage on his head. There's going to be a lot of protective swelling there for awhile and I don't want to disturb that any further. As for the second  
gunshot wound in his abdomen…. that alone can kill him. There is a dangerous risk of toxins invading his bloodstream from the ruptured organs in that area.”

“But, he may still live? Despite all that?” Drake wondered.

“Yes. it's possible.”

“I’m sure he will,” Drake said quietly. He looked at his friend for a few more moments and then left the room. He didn't want to see Reid that way any longer.

Jackson stayed behind, still looking intensely at Reid’s body. He wondered if he was ever going to wake up again. Endless thoughts and possibilities rushed into his brain. There were so many things he should have said, things he should have done differently, things he should have done. 

Except there was nothing he could do now but accept the harsh reality of all his mistakes. 

All the squabbling that had happened between the two, especially in the past month, now seemed pointless. Jackson hadn't realized how much Reid had come to mean to him until now. He wished with all his might that Reid would recover and promised himself, right there, that if Reid ever did wake up, he would let the man know how much he cared for him.

Jackson gently brushed an errant strand of Reid’s hair from his forehead, let his lips softly kiss the Inspector’s newly exposed flesh and then silently left the room.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh shit! I finally finished one of my goddamned Ripper Street fanfics! I have like 30 of them in a shoddy notebook that still have yet to be finished; some are as old as 2013. This one is hella short but it still took me a lot of time and some indirect motivation to get me to type this all out. I am terrible at committing to finishing writing something! Anyway, yeah, there was some 'unnecessary' implied slash at the ending but I really wanted to add it. This fandom does not have nearly enough slash. (Especially Reid/Jackson)


End file.
